Filing device.



A. F. STAPLES.

IIILING DEVICE. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 2s, 1911.

`1,028,300, Patented June 4, 1912. 11M.' 2 m1.

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ALBERT F. STAPLES, OF CANISTEO, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR T0 SUPERIOR REGISTERCOMPANY, OF CANISTEO, NEW YORK, CQBJPORATION Q1? NEVI YCRKq FILINGDEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed J' une 28, 1911.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, ALBERT F. STAPLES, a citizen of the United States,and resident of Canisteo, in the county of Steuben and State of NewYork, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in FilingDevices, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to filing devices useful particularly inconnection with account-registers, but also applicable to various useswhere charge-slips, bills, and the like, are to be filed.

One object of the invention is to produce a spring-clip or bill-holderof novel and simple form, for holding bills or charge-slips against aplate or frame such, for example, as is employed in account-registers.

Another object of the invention is to improve the construction of such aplate or frame in various respects hereinafter set forth. U

To the foregoing ends the invention consists in the filing devicehereinafter described, as it is dened in the succeeding claims.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a partial front-elevation ofthe present invention, as embodied in the bill-holder frame of anaccount-register or similar device; Fig. 2 is a vertical section throughthe bill-holder frame of Fig. 1, on the line 2-2 in said figure; Fig. 3is a section on the line 3-3 in Fig. 2; and Fig. 4 is a side-elevation,on a smaller scale, of a group of bill-holder frames or filing devicesconstructed in accordance with Figs. 1, 2 and 3.

The invention is illustrated as embodied in a group of bill-holderframes adapted for use in account-registers such, for example, as thatillustrated in United States Letters Patent granted to A. F. Staples andC. IIT. Potter, No. 853,651, dated May '14, 1907, although the devicesof the present invention constitute a complete filing apparatus inthemselves and may be so employed apart from the supporting andcontrolling mechanisms of said patent.

Each bill-holder frame has a flat bodyportion consisting of twothicknesses 5 and 6 of sheet-metal or other suitable material. Thesheets 5 and 6 are creased or flanged outwardly at suitable intervals toproduce forwardlyand rearwardly-projecting vertical ribs 7 and 8,respectively, these ribs serving both to stiften the bill-holder frameand to divide it into columns, in each of which any suitable number ofbill-holding clips'may be arranged one above the other.

Each bill-holder frame is stiffened at the bottom by means of a hollowsheet-metal member 9. This member is provided with upwardly-extendingflanges 10 inclosing the lower edge of the body-portion and securedthereto by rivets. At its lower angles the bottom-member 9 is formedwith integral, outwardly-pressed sleeves 11 and 12 located at the frontand rear, respectively, of the frame. lIhese sleeves are located instaggered relation, as shown in Fig. 3, so that when a plurality of thebill-holder frames are placed together, as in Fig. 4, the sleeves onadjacent frames are brought into alinement, thus permitting hinge-wires13 to be introduced into the lsleeves so as to hinge the frames togetherin a series. In this manner the frames are so connected-that they may beswung apart or together, like the leaves of a book, thusadapting thedeviceas a whole for use as, or in connection with, an account-register.

'Ihe lateral edges of each bill-holder 'frame are stiened by means ofhollow sheet-metal side-members 14 which are secured to the body-portionin the same manner as the bottom-member 9, by means of flanges 15 andrivets 16.

The upper edge of each bill-holder frame is stiffened by means of ahollow sheetmetal member 17 secured to the body-portion by flanges andrivets, and this topmember has an inclined upper surface 18 tofacilitate the manipulation of they bill-holder frames and to aord aconvenient surface for index-letters, numbers, or other indications ofthe contents of the several frames.

The construction of the bill-holder frames just described produces aframe having great rigidity in proportion to its weight, and which maybe cheaply constructed. When the bill-holder frames are hinged together,as in Fig. 4, the hollow edge-members not only constitute stiifeningdevices but also, through their interengagement. constitute closures bywhich protection is afforded to the bills or charge-slips carried by andcontained between the adjacent frames.

To diminish the slamming action when adjacent frames are swung togetherabout their pivotal connections, and also for the purpose of affordingan effective closure between the tops of the bill-holder frames toprevent the ingress of dust or water, I employ a noved device adapted tooperate both as a buffer and as an obturator between the tops of theframes. To this end the forward and rear surfaces of the top-member 18are pressed inwardly to form grooves 19, and these grooves are continuedaround the lateral edges of the frames as shown in Fig. l. On eachalternate top-member a band 20 of rubber, or other suitable flexiblematerial, is seated in the groove, being held therein either by suitablecement or by being stretched to afford suflicient tension for thispurpose. Then the frames are close together, in the position of Fig. 4,the bands 2O seat themselves in the grooves in the adjacent frames, sothat between the contact-- ing surfaces of each pair of frames there isa strip of flexible material seated in the opposed grooves, thus sealingthe space between the adjacent surfaces and also affording a resilientdevice to receive and cushion the impact of the frames.

The novel bill-clip constituting a feature of the presentinvention isconstructed and arranged as follows: The body-portion of the bill-holderframe is provided, at suitable intervals, with elongated horizontalopenings 21, in each of which is located a helix 22 of spring-wire. Fromone end of this helix a loop 23 extends upwardly at the front of thebill-holder frame, and' the other end 25 of the loop is benthorizontally and inserted in the coil 22, so that the loop is pivotallymounted and is resiliently pressed toward the surface of thebody-portion. The other end of the coil 22 is bent upwardly to form asecond loop 26, which is located at the rear of the body-portionopposite to the loop 23, and the free end 27 of the loop 26 is also benthorizontally and inserted in the coil 22. By this construction a single,integral wire member is formed t-o constitute, in effect, two clips incorresponding positions at the front and the rear of the bill-holderframe.

The form of the clip just described is such that it will retain itselfin the opening 2l, but to secure a neater finish and to support the clipmore effectively I prefer to mount the resilient portion 22 of the clipin a sheetmetal sleeve 28. This sleeve has depending fianges 29 whichare secured to the bodyportion, below the opening 2l, by means of rivets30.

To equalize the torsional effect on both side-members of the loops 28and 26 the horizontal members 25 and 27 are carried completely throughthe coil 22 and are then themselves coiled to form resilient coils 31.The extremities of the wire, beyond these latter coils, are bent intohooks 32 engaging openings in the bodyeportion of the frame, wherebythese extremities are fixed against rotation. The swinging movement ofeach loop is thus resisted, at one side of the loop, by the coil 22,and, at the other side, by the coil 3l acting through the straightportion 25 or 27. A

Any convenient number of clips may be employed in vertical relationbetween the flanges 7 and 8, and the drawings accordingly illustrate thebill-holder frames as broken in the middle to indicate that they may beof indefinite height.

My invention is not limited to the embodiment thereof hereinbeforedescribed and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, but may beembodied in various forms, within the nature of the invention as it isdefined in the following claims.

I claim l. A filing-device comprising a series of bill-holder frameshaving corresponding grooves in their opposed marginal surfaces, andelastic devices mounted on the frames and seated in said grooves toafford buffers and closures between the adjacent frames.

2. A filing-device comprising a bill-holder frame having grooves in theforward and rear surfaces of its upper marginal portion, a resilientband seated in said grooves, and bill-holder frames pivotally connectedat the bottom with the first-mentioned frame and provided with grooveslocated in position to be engaged by said band when the frames are swungtogether about their pivotal connections.

3. A filing device comprising a fiat bodyportion and a hollowsheet-metal bottommember fixed to the lower edge of the bodyportion, thesheet-metal, at the forward and rear lower angles of the bottom-member,extending outwardly at separate points in the form of alining hingesleeves.

4. A filing-device having, in combination, a bill-holder frame with aflat body-portion provided with an opening, a bill-clip comprising twoloops connected by a resilient coil, said coil being located in saidopening and one of the loops being on each side of the body-portion, anda sleeve inclosing and pivotally supporting the resilient coil andsecured to the edge of the body-portion adjacent saidopening.

5. A filing-device having, in combination, a bill-holder frame with afiat body-portion provided with an elongated opening, a billclipcomprising two loops connected by a resilient member, said member beinglocated in said opening and one of the loops being on each side of thebody-portion, and a sleeve inclosing and pivotally supporting theresilient member and secured to the edge of the body-portion adjacentthe opening.

6. In combination with a bill-holder frame having a flat body-portionprovided with an opening, a bill-clip comprising a central coil locatedin said opening, a loop on each side of said body-portion, one side ofeach loop being connected with an end, respectively, of the central coiland a member connected with the other side oi each loop and passingthrough the central coil, each of said members, beyond the central coil,having a coiled resilient portion and being fixed, at its extremity, tothe billholder frame.

7. A filing-device comprising a billholder frame having a body-portionformed oi' two thicknesses of sheet-material, said material being bentoutwardly to form forwardly and rearwardly-extending ribs dividing theframe vertically into columns, hollow sheet-metal stitfening membersiiXed to the edges of the body-portion, and billclips mounted upon thebody-portion between said ribs.

8. A ling device comprising a bill-h0lder frame having a hollowsheet-metal top-inember provided at its forward and rear surfaces withinwardly-pressed grooves, aresilient band extending continuously aroundsaid top-member and seated in said grooves, and bill-holder framespivotally connected, at the bottom, with the first-mentioned frame andprovided, in their top-members, with grooves located in position to belengaged by said band when the frames are swung together about theirpivotal connections.

ALBERT F. STAPLES.

Witnesses:

FARNUM F. DoRsEY, D. GURNEE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

